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Carrick hails England captain Rooney

Michael Carrick feels Wayne Rooney is among the best players of his generation as the England skipper prepares to win his 100th cap.

Published

12 November 2014

Rooney is set to become the ninth man to reach 100 England caps against Slovenia at Wembley on Saturday, having made his international debut against Australia in 2003.

Carrick believes England and Manchester United team-mate Rooney is among the best players to have played for his country in recent years.

Rooney will join former international team-mates David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard in reaching the century mark and Carrick feels the England captain fully deserves to reach the landmark.

"Obviously it's a huge achievement," Carrick said.

"We've been lucky over recent years - we first had Becks [David Beckham] and then Ashley [Cole], then Stevie [Gerrard] and then Frank [Lampard] - to have five players like that in such a short space of time shows that we have had some special players.

"Wayne is right at the top of the tree for what he has done throughout his career. He is leading [Manchester] United and England.

"Hopefully he can get [Bobby Charlton's goalscoring] record pretty soon as well."

Charlton scored 49 goals for England, with Rooney on 43 ahead of the Euro 2016 qualifier against Slovenia and a friendly against Scotland next Tuesday.